Friday, May 31, 2013

Just like most of you, I have two days off. After the longest short week ever, I need to
get out for a ride. I’m for sure staying
local tomorrow because I’ve volunteered to help with the Dirt Divas skills
clinic at the WhitewaterCenter. It will be a nice ride for sure, but I know
I’ll need more. If I can resist the urge
for an immediate beer reward after the clinic, I’ll probably stick around for
another lap on the geared bike. Will
that count as two rides? You know, of the five I need?

Maybe.

I’m thinking about getting the hell outta town again
Sunday. With all the Trans-Sylvania Epic coverage I’ve been watching,
it’s got me itching to do some epic shit myself. I don’t have any plans yet, but I’m sure
something will come up. Well, “something”
could mean that I just sit around drinking beer. Whatever.

Hopefully I’ll have something good to talk about Monday when
I come back, because I sure as shit don’t have much to say today. It’s Friday anyway, so y’all aren’t really
paying attention.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

I forgot to mention that we went on a group ride Tuesday
night. It was fun, but I didn’t really
take any photos. Well, except this
blurry one of Good Guy Greg.

And, this one.

Yeah, that’s TK-421, my geared bike. I’ll get to that in a little bit.

Anyway, with some kind of sickness catching up to me after
our trip to FATS last Saturday, I decided to take it easy on Sunday. I had originally planned to ride every day of
my three day weekend, but honestly I didn’t feel like doing a damn thing. After sleeping in a little bit I forced my
way outside to the garage to work on bikes.
Well, one in particular anyway.

My single speed had a few issues from some shitty weather riding
so I had to address them. I cleaned out
the bottom bracket and headset, replaced the chain, and put more sealant in my
tires. And that’s when it hit me…

I probably should change some shit that doesn’t need
changing.

I love things to stay the same for the most part, but every
once in a while I like to switch it up for no apparent reason. In this case I took off my 32 tooth chainring
and replaced it with a 34.

And the very next day I was feeling a little better and took
it for a ride.

Running a 34X18 locally isn’t really a big deal I
guess. I liked it from what I could
tell, but I was pretty tired from being sick so I couldn’t really make an
honest assessment. I felt like it was
tougher to accelerate out of corners, but I had plenty of speed rolling down
the trail. I didn’t really have any
problems climbing, and actually I felt like I had more power. I’ll keep in on there for a while to see if I
like it I guess. You can’t tell a damn
thing after one ride, you know. A few
more rides and I’ll make a decision.

So, back to the geared bike and why the hell I was riding
it. I like it. Not the gears, but the actual bike. With pretty much the same frame and exact
components as my SS(other than the shifty bits and squishy fjork) it rides just
the same. After getting used to a little
squish up front I enjoyed it, and I realized that I wouldn’t mind having
suspension once in a while as long as I don’t have to swap out a fork.

As for the gears, I couldn’t really get used to them after
spending so much time on a single speed.
I know, I’m probably way too far gone to the Dark Side now to turn
back. I don’t want to believe that
though, so that’s why I’m giving my gears one last chance.

For the next five rides (on trails), I will only ride my
geared bike. I will miss the simplicity
of my single speed for sure, but I figured that five rides will be enough to
decide whether or not I wanna keep them.
After all, that’s all it took for me to be convinced that I should be on
a 29er full time. If I like the gears
(and can get used to shifting them), I will keep it and alternate between the
two (depending on ride plans of course.)

If there’s no way in hell I can stand the gears, then they
go the hell away. As in, I’ll take the
shifty shit off and convert it to a single speed. Why two single speeds? I dunno.
Maybe so I can be lazy and not have to swap out forks when I go to the
mountains.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

On Saturday, our trip to FATS near Augusta, GA
was on. D-Wayne rolled down to the B-43 Worldwide Headquarters bright and
early, joining myself and Lunchbox to meet the rest of the crew down in Rock
Hill, SC. We rolled up on the scene and
found Dennis, Good Guy Greg, TomTom, and Eastwood waiting at a local McDonald’s.

We hit the road, making the little over two hour trip seem
like nothing. When we got to the parking
lot, we met up with Dustin from Southern Wheelworks for a nice day in the
woods. We got ready, and hit the trail
at a social pace. When we got to the
first intersection we took the Great Wall loop and hauled ass. It was fun as hell, until I realized that we
were missing someone from the group. I
pulled over to the side of the trail with the rest of the group rolling up
right behind me.

“Where’s my kid?” I asked.

No one knew. I
figured that maybe he missed a turn (it’s easy to do even though he’s been
there a bunch) so I told the group to continue and I would go back to look for
him. I sprinted up the long climb (which
we had just rolled down) and headed back to the parking lot, backtracking as
best I could to find him. When I turned
around and headed into the loop backwards, I found Lunchbox on the side of the
trail with a flat tire.

Shit.

He was in the process of changing it, so I helped him
along. He hadn’t even gone half a mile
when he pinch flatted. I really gotta
set aside some time to get that boy setup tubeless. Anyway, I asked if he wanted to ride the loop
the “fun” way or if we should just keep going backwards until we eventually ran
into the group. He opted for the former,
and without a proper warm up we hauled ass to catch up. I was hoping we would find them well before
they finished (and went on to the next loop), but we were wearing ourselves out
trying to catch them.

Just as we thought all hope was lost, we rolled up on a
group of riders that looked strangely familiar…and had a problem that was also
familiar.

Yeah, it turns out that Eastwood flatted too and they had
been there for a while. His inferior
tire sealant didn’t do the trick when he punctured the tires, and multiple bad
tubes, co2, and unsuccessful hand pumping couldn’t get things right.

He worked his ass off trying to get back to riding.

Eventually he got it, but the tube didn’t hold air. We had to stop several times so he could top
it off (without all that weird pumping action this time), and we all decided
that a trip back to the parking lot was in order. Dustin (the guy who built those wheels) was
kind enough to provide some real tire sealant and we got busy trying to get the
tire to air up without a tube.

And the smart people just sat back and watched.

We eventually got things right again (by using a co2 instead
of the pump), and went on to have an awesome ride. Fast, flowy, smooth singletrack, and hauling
ass in the woods with some good people for hours was just what I needed.

Well, that and a beer.

And of course Lunchbox needed a ton of food.

And since I’m apparently trying to keep the streak alive by
talking about you
know who very single day, here’s a photo of some socks we spotted on
the ride.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

I thought it was over, but with one more day here in Charlotte, our new friend
wanted someone to show her around one of our local trails. Her pal Little Miss Sunshine was happy to
oblige.

And I was happy to invite myself along. You know, to take photos.

We met out at the whitewater park to do a nice, easy ride,
and to be honest with you I was a bit terrified. Getting a chance to ride with a pro is cool
and all that, but we were both waiting to get dropped like sack of dirty
diapers. It turns out that Sonya did indeed
have an easy ride in mind, and unlike most people that say that she actually
meant it.

At one point I got a little bit ahead and I spotted
something blocking the trail. There was
this little turtle stuck on his side, so I stopped to pick him up (and warn the
ladies so they wouldn't hit him.)

Photo credit: Sonya
Looney

A day short of World Turtle Day. You lose, my friend.

We had a social pace for sure, and it seemed like everyone
had a blast.

Sonya seemed to enjoy finally getting to ride in some Charlotte dirt, and
luckily I was able to get ahead of her one more time to get an action shot.

And I enjoyed getting a chance to ride with a genuinely good
person (who just happens to be pretty damn good on a bike.)

Since I was leading the ride I tried to keep a good
pace. I knew that if I let something
happen to her before the Trans-Sylvania Epic the whole cycling world would hate me (which
probably isn’t too far off now anyway.) Luckily
there were only two crashes that day, neither of which belonged to the guest of
honor. Nothing serious at all, which was
pretty much the theme for the day. Like
Sonya said, it was “just three buddies out riding.”

She’s so rad.

I know it may sound like I’m full of it, but I’m really
happy we made a new friend. From this
point on I don’t really care that she’s a pro, well-known in the cycling world,
or even that a lot of guys just think she’s hot. I like having nice, positive people in my
life, and the fact that she just happens to be famous is nothing but a
coincidence. I have lots of good friends
that ride bikes, and I am happy to know each and every one of them. Some people get a little bit of talent,
ability, or success and seem to forget where they came from though. Sonya isn’t like that at all.

At that’s why last week was one of the best weeks I’ve ever
had on a bike.

And that’s the end for now.
Don’t worry, we’ll be back to the normal crap and nonsense soon.

Friday, May 24, 2013

With a shitload of my friends heading up to PA to race
mountain bikes, and a whole bunch of idiots coming into town to watch a car
race (and clog up our roads), I can’t see any reason to stay here. So, we’re heading out of town to ride.

It’s gonna be so choice.

We’re heading down to Augusta,
GA to ride FATS, the Forks Area
Trail System. If you have the means, I
highly recommend it.

Don’t know what FATS is?
Have no idea why we would drive two and a half hours away to ride? Well then check out this shitty video I
made from the last time we were out there.

The word “epic” is used way too damn much, so all I’ll say
for now is that it will be fun as hell.
We’re hitting the road bright and early with a big crew of locals,
including TomTom, Good Guy Greg, and Eastwood. Hell, even D-Wayne is making the trip down from the Triad.

A few of us are bringing the single speeds, including
Eastwood, who’s gonna have a blast on his new green bike.

Um, wait. That’s not
it.

Anyway, that’s the plan, and of course we’ll stop for beer
and food afterwards. I’ll try to get
some video and pictures, and I’ll have plenty of time to write a report since I
won’t be back here until Tuesday.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

While everyone was suffering in Pisgah last Saturday in the
rain, the little lady and I took a trip to the nearby DuPontStateForest. While it did shit on us most of the way
there, when we got to the trailhead it had turned out to be a nice day. I figured since we were right around the
corner from all the racing, they were having a nice day too. Turns out that wasn’t the case.

Too bad for them.

In order to have a nice, easy ride, I brought a nice, easy
bike to the Land
of Waterfalls.

And that’s where geared bikes belong, right next to the
shitter.

We took a different route this time instead of the usual
stuff, and I got to see some parts of DuPont that I’ve never seen before. I’m not sure how I missed some of those cool
sections, but I won’t dare miss them again.
I mean, there are more fun things to ride out there than I ever knew.

I even got to see a couple more waterfalls, which is
probably my favorite thing about riding out there. The fact that these were off the beaten path
and away from the masses made them that much more enjoyable too.

Yay! No people.

You know, you just can’t see this kind of stuff here in the
city.

We started out climbing a lot, but with a shitload of gears
it didn’t bother me one bit. It was the
first time in a long time that I hadn’t suffered on the bike. And yeah, the little lady brought gears too.

When you’re out in the mountains on a bike, you appreciate
everything just a little bit more. You
notice all kinds of details about the rocks, the sky, and even the trees.

Especially the trees.

About halfway through the ride, we stumbled upon a “kids
trail.” It started out flat, but when I
rounded a corner I saw a magical playground.

And I had to stop to play for a while.

And so did Little Miss Sunshine:

It was so fun, but eventually we had to leave. We had a little more fire road climbing to go
then we hit the Ridgeline trail. It was
about two miles of super fast, smooth downhill riding, and when we finished we
were right back in the parking lot. We
didn’t get a ton of mileage, but we were out there for a quite a while. So long in fact that I realized that it had
been too long since I’d had a beer.
Luckily I had some in the truck, and after having one we headed up the
road to make the obligatory stop at a mainstay in Western
North Carolina,The Hub.

We didn’t stay long, because word around the campfire is
that there’s a new brewery in town. We
drove about two miles down the road and suddenly I was in beer heaven.

I stormed right up to the tap room and ordered the
“sampler platter.”

And promptly finished it.

What a freakin’ awesome day.
I need to spend more time in the mountains.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Our regular Tuesday group ride was scrapped last night. The trail we planned to ride never opened,
but we quickly put together a backup plan. Since we had
so much fun riding with Sonya Looney Monday night, we thought, “Hey, lets go to the Dirt Diva
meeting!”

It just so happens that they do an urban ride before their
meeting, and they do welcome us smelly boys from time to time. They didn’t really know we were coming
though, so we stayed off to the side all incognito and shit.

So we would fit in a little better, the men in the group
decided to sacrifice our bodies for the ladies and block off intersections
while they rode through. We spent a lot
of time at the back of the pack, sprinting up front every time we were needed.

We couldn’t be everywhere at once though. At one point they lost us when they took a
wrong turn into some secret underground lair.

Or maybe it was a potty break. You know how the ladies love to go to the bathroom in packs.

Our route was a little different than the one from the night
before, but we still rode some of the same sections of our local greenway.

And a few different ones...

It was definitely a lot more fun than usual. I took a lot of photos, but most of them didn’t
look so great. Well, except this one:

It looks like Little Miss Sunshine made a new friend. And a note to Peter, that's the bike the little lady got from you. I hear that Sonya has one of
those too. You know, she is really just
like the rest of us.

The photo above was actually not the plan, but it worked out
pretty well. I was really going for this
one:

And yeah, the fellas stayed off to the side and the hell
outta the way.

It was time to head back to Kickstand (which by the way is one of my favorite
places here in Charlotte)
for the Diva meeting. It was about time,
because although I was having fun riding, I had gone way too long without a
beer. Of course Sonya was the guest of
honor, and the ladies couldn’t wait to hear what she had to say.

I had a different agenda though. After a conversation with Dirty yesterday morning (you know, from Drunk Cyclist headquarters), he gave me specific instructions to buy that special young lady a beer.

And I did.

DC FTW!

While she was talking, I stopped eating my dinner to
listen. I made plans to save these for
later:

And then she went all Napoleon Dynamite on me and took my
tots.

Dang it.

We had a blast, and even though we crashed the party the
ladies didn’t seem to mind too much. No
matter where you go in the cycling world, it’s a good bet that you will find
someone that's happy to ride bikes and have a beer with you.

And that my friends, is what it’s all about.

Big thanks to Sonya Looney for hanging out with us lowly Charlotte folks. Hopefully she’ll come back again to
visit soon.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

With Sonya Looney in town, last night’s scheduled ride at Backyard
Trail was sure to be an interesting one.
However, the rain we’ve been getting around here forced a change in
plans. Instead of riding in the dirt, we
ended up on a group “urban ride” out of the shop (Bike
Source in case I forget to mention it later.)

I arrived plenty early, and while I was getting ready to
ride the guest of honor rolled up. We
exchanged pleasantries (pro mountain bikers say “hello” just like the rest of
us) and I seized the opportunity to let her know that I had to please Drunk Cyclist
Headquarters and get a photo with her.

While I was at it, I got the raddest photo ever captured of Faster Mustache
rider and Bike Source employee the Gentle Ginger.

And because he said I’ve never mentioned him on my blog
before, here’s a random photo of another Bike Source employee, Daniel Lenis.

While I was slightly disappointed that we wouldn’t be riding
on the trail, I was sorta looking forward to an urban ride. Eastwood and I brought bikes that were not
really suitable for fast, urban riding.

The Falcon and The Glow Worm.

Good Guy Greg rolled in on his single speed moments later,
and the Niner
crew (which we’ve been called as of late) took our place in the back of the
pack with Sonya, who was riding at a “recovery pace.”

See, she rides bikes too, just like the rest of us.

She told us that single speeders are her favorite, probably
because the longer the ride went on, the more we started complaining about the
lack of beer. Well, that and the fact
that she’s a single speeder herself (in her spare time I
guess.)

We rode through neighborhoods:

Through a cemetery:

Through the city:

And even sprinted down a hill trying to beat a speeding train:

And because local coaching phenom Chad Andrews was riding
with us, we stopped in for a visit at Total Cyclist.

On the way back, I knew we were getting tired from spinning
our tiny little gears. Because, you
know, some random dude on a New Belgium Fat Tire bike blew past us like we were
standing still.

After getting back to the bike shop, it was time for beer
(finally.) We walked down the plaza and
ordered up some local tasty goodness in the form of Triple C Greenway IPA. We also ordered food, but it took forever to
get there. Because of that I had plenty
of time to harass local Internets celebrity Rich Dillen to see if he would come out to play
with us. He was busy, so the night went
on without him.

See, she drinks beer after a ride just like us.

In all, it was a great ride even if it wasn’t in the
dirt. The pace was surprisingly quite
social, even though we had a real live professional mountain biker in our
midst.